The easiest way to address this trope is to make sure the love interestРІР‚в„ўs expertise canРІР‚в„ўt be used to solve the storyРІР‚в„ўs main problem. If the protagonist never demonstrates any agency, all a secret power does is turn them into a McGuffin. Some stories try to balance this out by giving the protagonist damsel a secret power, but this doesnРІР‚в„ўt help. They rarely do anything on their own, always depending on the romantic interest to solve problems for them. In fact, it often feels like the narrative accidentally got stuck onР’В a side character. This is most common with a male love interest and a female protagonist because our culture has romanticized men rescuing helpless women.Р”Р„ protagonist who never does anything isnРІР‚в„ўt interesting. Give them some sweet muscles alongside a supernatural power or two and youРІР‚в„ўre golden, right? The problem here is that itРІР‚в„ўs easy for the love interest to get so competent that they end up solving all the protagonistРІР‚в„ўs problems. ItРІР‚в„ўs important make the love interest desirable, and an easy way to do that is for the love interest to be competent. The Protagonist Damsel Bella has no powers in a book about fighting evil vampires, so her boyfriendР’В gets most of the action. Learn to recognize them, lest they creep unannounced into your own stories. Given how serious the consequences are, itРІР‚в„ўs surprising how many common tropes conspire to make a protagonist boring. If the main character is boring, it can damage the story beyond repair. A protagonist must carry the audience through the story.

ItРІР‚в„ўs not the only problem protagonists can have, but itРІР‚в„ўs perhaps the most serious. While incompetence is the villainРІР‚в„ўs bugbear, boredom is the death knell of a protagonist. I hadnРІР‚в„ўt written such a post at the time, but now I have and youРІР‚в„ўre reading it. Have you done anything for heroes? РІР‚СљTropes that make heroes boringРІР‚Сњ or something like that? IРІР‚в„ўd also love to see some posts specifically on subverting classic, painful tropes. I really liked the post on РІР‚СљTropes that make your villain look incompetent.РІР‚Сњ Protagonists have plenty of tropes as well, which is why Clark sent us this question: But villains are only half of the equation. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about tropes that make villains incompetent.

Yv tropes the bear and the dragon